


Dark

by Iamnamedsilence



Series: Inktober 2019 prompts stories [22]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Crossover, Gen, I really don't expect anyone to get interested by the tags alone, I'm a rebel and I'm writing out of order, Inktober 2019, Self-Indulgent, The Multiverse Theory, and I have no idea how to tag it, meeting weird people form another story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 06:43:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21031934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamnamedsilence/pseuds/Iamnamedsilence
Summary: „Ryder, I’m receiving some kind of communication,” SAM said.„Put it through” Parvati ordered.What she heard was a voice speaking what sounded like… a series of random words and names. Some of them sounded like English words – Parvati understood „shatter” and then the word „captain”. Some – like form different languages. If Parvati was to guess, she would say the person speaking is human and female.From the short stories series written for Inktober 2019 prompts.





	Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I'n writing out of order, but I wanted to publish this together with the 14th chapter of Loyalties, where this scene is shown from Miko's side.
> 
> I will rewrite it one day for a longer MEA fic.
> 
> Listen, I'm self indulgent and I like to create scenes like this one. Sorry. (Not sorry.)

Parvati heard machines humming under her feet.

She felt it as well: a vibration in the floor, in the walls, in her suit. Something very, very large at work nearby.

This was something she already expected. The entire Meridian was full of technology they hadn’t fully understand. A Vault, only bigger in scale, with many more variables to control all the time. And, at least at the first sight, working far better, than any vault Parvati encountered – except for the one on Aya.

Learning how it works would take many years. Maybe the grandchildren of human colonists would have at least a little glimpse into how their home functions. She will be old by then or dead, as would be most of her friends.

For now, her main task was to search for any possible danger for the colonist and to gather data, for others to analyze.

She entered a dark corridor and as she did, the sound of machines working got much louder, almost unbearable.

The readings got wild for a moment.

„Ryder” she heard SAM’s voice. „there is something I don’t quite understand.”

„Transfer the readings to the others” she ordered. The sounds weakened, but the corridor was terribly dark and the lights in her suit were barely able to pierce this darkness. „Cora, Peebee, any ideas?” she asked her two companions.

„This is wild,” Peebee said. „I’ve never seen anything like this!”

„Neither did I” Cora confirmed.

„Ryder, I’m receiving some kind of communication,” SAM said.

„Put it through” Parvati ordered.

What she heard was a voice speaking what sounded like… a series of random words and names. Some of them sounded like English words – Parvati understood „shatter” and then the word „captain”. Some – like form different languages. If Parvati was to guess, she would say the person speaking is human and female.

„Hello?” she risked „Hello, anybody there? Hello? Where are you? I’m coming. Stay where you are.”

„There is a moving object in front of us, Ryder” SAM announced. „It is like it appeared out of nowhere, as you say.”

Parvati nodded and slowly wen ahead, showing Peebee and Cora to wait.

„Hello, who are you?” she heard.

Definitely English. Very female-sounding voice.

„I am Parvati Ryder. Who are you?”

SAMs readings showed a large object, roughly the size of a Remnant Destroyer, but bipedal. A power armor, she realized, the scans showing the presence of a living creature inside.

„My name is Miko Nakadai. Cadet Miko Nakadai of the UEF.”

Human name. Human DNA inside the power armor, even if the power armor itself resembled nothing Parvati had seen before.

„What is UEF?” she asked, approaching slowly. The human in power armor, Miko Nakadai, stood there. She had some kind of a weapon but attached to the back of her armor. “Are you from Nexus? Hyperion?”

“I have no idea what are you talking about. I’m fucking lost here and those fuckers have one of my… friends.”

She sounded lost, desperate and very angry. How did she get there, where her armor came from and what was this UEF – another mystery to solve

“I’ll help you. Don’t move. I’m coming” Parvati said.

Soon she stood in front of the armor and looked at Miko – and Miko looked at her.

She was about Parvati’s age, Asian, as her name indicated. She wore a spacesuit under the armor. Insignia Parvati couldn’t recognize. She was also surprised.

“You are real!” She exclaimed. „Fuck, you have to be real, those fuckers wouldn’t try to mess with my mind by projecting someone I’ve never met, right?”

“What fuckers?” Parvati asked.

“Assholes that built this fucking thing. I’ve never seen any of them, but all those drones and empty bodies… You must have seen them. Fuck, I’m happy to see an actual living human being. How did you get there?”

Fuckers who built it – Jardaan? Drones meant Remnant and empty bodies… Parvati hadn't found any „unused” angara on the Meridian, but it didn’t mean there weren’t any.

And all of this didn’t explain, how this woman, who seemed not to have any idea what Nexus and Hyperion were, got there.

“We discovered the Meridian several months ago.”

“So you were able to survive here? How is…” Miko said, and Parvati noticed her silhouette flickering, like a projection. “What is happening? You are disappearing, like… Fuck you! Assholes! I have no idea what you are playing, but I’m gonna kick the asses of every single one of you!”

„Ryder” Parvati heard SAM’s voice. „The readings are out of the norm. I’m not even sure if this human is here or not.”

Parvati wasn’t sure herself. She saw the woman flickering and fading.

“Miko…” She said, „Miko, I have no idea what is happening here, but it looks like you are…”

She did not finish, because Miko Nakadai of the UEF disappeared.

Parvati stood in the empty chamber, with unknown machine thrumming under her feet and many, many unanswered questions.


End file.
